


Blind Rainbow

by 50Lizardsinatrenchcoat



Series: Ping AU [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Empath Morality | Patton Sanders, Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Morality | Patton Sanders Angst, One Shot, Sort Of, Synesthesia, does "sees emotions as colors" count as synesthesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:06:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21568096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/50Lizardsinatrenchcoat/pseuds/50Lizardsinatrenchcoat
Summary: Patton can see the emotions of others as color. It's not a great experience.
Series: Ping AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1548364
Comments: 5
Kudos: 105





	Blind Rainbow

Patton’s favorite color was blue. The ocean’s waves or the afternoon sky, Patton adored every shade. Whenever a side felt joy, the telltale cool glow danced in the corners of his eyes. It always lifted his spirits to know someone found satisfaction in their life. He even wore that color because it reminded him of how much he cared for his family! It didn’t matter what he missed if he knew when the people he loved did something that made them happy.

Other colors were less pleasant.

When his fellow sides fought, bright arcs of crimson streaked across his vision like fiery lightning. The lights scorched his retinas and left dark spots in their wake. Anger was the same red as blood. (Or was blood the same red as anger?) Blistering and burning, the only good red thing in existence was Roman. Nothing good came of the unyielding rage that red entailed, so Patton made efforts to never experience it.

Fear was just as unpleasant. Small white bursts, just like tiny explosions under his eyelids, flashed in his peripheral vision. No matter how often it happened, he always flinched away from the assault on his eyes. No matter how often Patton received this ping from Virgil, he never held his dark strange son accountable for his own personal discomfort. Fear just signaled he needed to go comfort someone; he couldn’t hate that.

His least favorite ping didn’t disorient him, nor was it attention-seeking. Blackened sadness encroached in like a toxic fog, blocking out Patton’s view of what he was doing and leaving only the emotions visible. He couldn’t tell if it was a facet of his powers or a matter of psychology, but the fog clouded his own feelings and let numbness fill in the cracks. It left him trudging through a void of inescapable nothing.

Despite knowing everyone’s emotions, Patton didn’t know how to help his family combat the dark cloud that hung over everyone’s head. For all his ping told him, it couldn’t tell him how to fix anything. (If he saw his own emotions, he’d see the dark cloud around himself too. He preferred not to think about that.)

The worst days heralded misunderstandings and shouting matches over nothing worth the fight. The ink blocked Patton’s view of everything but the explosions of red and white, directed at themselves and each other. They lobbed accusations rooted in defensiveness and frustrations like grenades that only affected Patton. The force of the flashes multiplied and their effect compounded. Patton’s mind swam and a burst of pain pierced his skull.

He clutched at his head and forced his eyes shut, but he couldn’t block the offending lights.

Needle-sharp agony continued on its journey of destruction as he sank out to his room.

The lights disappeared at once. If Patton was thinking, he’d know the others realized what their fight was putting him through, but he was completely out of it. He had no choice but to ride out the blind migraine until he readjusted.

Sometimes Patton’s ability hurt more than it helped. But he needed it to help his people. To feel normal.

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know, another short one-shot. I'm building up to longer works but I need to establish context first. Logan's will probably also be short (I'm lost for his one shot, please comment ideas because I don't have any), Roman and Remus's will be longer, and then it'll be time for multichapter angst fics >:D  
> Come yell at me [on my Tumblr!](https://void-and-ideas.tumblr.com/) I post all my fics there, as well as my art.


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